Photo Courtesy: ILO

February 11: Nepal has made some improvements in reducing child labour over the last one decade. However, 1.1 million children are still found working in brick kilns, carpet factories and entertainment business, among others, shows a recent report.    

The joint report prepared by the Central Bureau of Statistics of the National Planning Commission and International Labour Organization (ILO) states that nearly 1.1 million children are involved in child labour in Nepal. Among them, 0.2 million children are subjected to worst forms of child labour.    

The statistics reveal that child labour is still significant although the overall trend is declining in Nepal. As per the data, 2.6 million children were involved in child labour in the country in 1998, which dropped to 1.6 million in 2008 and 1.1 million in 2018.    

According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, agriculture is found to be the sector with highest percent of child labour (87 percent) and Dalit children constitute the highest (19.4 percent) proportion based on caste and ethnicity. The report assesses the status of child labour in the country and is believed to help the government implement the second National Master Plan (2018 – 2028) on Child Labour, recently endorsed by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MoLESS).    

The dis-aggregated data will also be useful for planning and designing child-focused programmes and activities at provincial and local levels by the government and other development partners in Nepal, RSS reported.    

It is stated that among the total seven million children between the ages of 5 and 17 in Nepal, 1.1 million children (15.3 percent) were found to be engaged in child labour which is a significant decline in child labour in comparison to 2008 (1.6 million).    

 The child labour prevalence for children between age of 5 and 13 years is 18 percent while it is 10 percent for the children between age of 14 and 17.    

Similarly, female children are more likely to be engaged in child labour (17 percent) than that of male children (14 percent), the report states. Child labour is the highest in Karnali (24.6 percent) followed by Sudurpashchim (20.9 percent), Province 1 (17.6 percent), Gandaki (16.1 percent), Lumbini (15.8 percent), Madhes (11.5 percent), and the lowest in Bagmati (8.9 percent). According to the report, the prevalence of child labour is higher in rural areas (20.4 percent) than that of urban areas (12.1 percent).    

The report found that among the total children engaged in child labour, about 87 child labour are engaged in the agriculture sector while 13 child labour are involved in other sectors. The highest child labour prevalence is found among Dalits (19.4 child labour), followed by Janajati (18.1 child labour), Brahmin/Chhetri (14.5 child labour), Terai caste (12.7 child labour), Muslim and other caste categories (12.8 child labour) and the lowest is among Newar (9.9 child labour).    

Likewise, the sectors with the highest child labour were found to be ‘self production’ (13.2 child labour) followed by elementary occupation (1.3 child labour), service and sales worker (1.2 child labour), skilled/semi-skilled agriculture occupation (1 child labour), crafts and trade workers (0.5 child labour), and plant and machine operators (0.1 child labour).    

Children working as child labourers earned Rs 3116 per week.    

According to the report, children engaged in child labour worked an average of 15 hours per week.

The study found that about 0.2 million (3.2 percent) children are found to be engaged in hazardous work which is a significant decline in comparison to 2008 (0.62 million). More males (3.7 percent) are engaged in such work in comparison to females (2.6 percent).    

The highest number of children working in the hazardous sector is from Lumbini (4 percent) followed by Province 1 (3.9 percent), Province 2 (3.4 percent), Gandaki (3.1 percent), Bagmati (3.1 percent), Karnali (1.9 percent), and Sudurpashchim (1.4 percent).